


Mirrors

by ytcompassrose



Category: NYA (Non-Yog Associates), The Yogscast
Genre: Gen, blood mention, death mention, multi-world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-25 11:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3809497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ytcompassrose/pseuds/ytcompassrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An introduction to several versions of Lying and what happens when they catch glimpses of each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Storyteller

**Author's Note:**

> Completely unrelated to my UMY series... at least so far. Could in theory be connected, but I don't think it will be.
> 
> I began writing this before Lying's video where he goes through the portal to the eldrich.

_See a room, covered in mirrors. Don't wonder where it is, it doesn't have to be anywhere._

_If you must give it a place, say it is between the worlds, at an intersection. Or maybe outside them, looking in._

_Yes, each mirror is a window._

_In each reflection, see a fox-like, blue-eyed person with long blond hair. Each one is different, living their own story. All have, at some point, gone by the name of Lying._

_Do any of the mirrors catch your eye? Those three? Good choices. Well, if we're talking about **that** one, we may as well address the broken ones around it as well. _

_But we'll leave that for last._

 

_Are you ready?_


	2. The Priest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first of the Lyings we will see.

_You wanted to look in the Japanese mirror first?  Alright._

_See the curious priest._

 

“I’ve done it!”  Uncharacteristically excited, Lying of Yokai Temple bounded up the hill, their hair streaming behind them.  The kitsune priest vaulted the short wall, sandals flapping, and raced up the path to their alchemy station.   They held a cloth-wrapped package snugly under one arm.  Stopping short in front of a large jar containing a disembodied brain floating in a greenish liquid, they unwrapped the package to reveal a polished disc in a wooden frame.

“I’ve done it, Kegare, I’ve made the mirror.  Just as you said: a circle of obsidian, plated with silver and framed in witchwood.”  Lying held out the mirror as if to show the floating brain.

-_---_-good_-_--this will let you see _-__between worlds-_-_

_--_-you just need to_--__-activate it_--

“What will I need?”  asked Lying.  

-__-_-place it in_--_-the infuser-__

-_--give it tenebrae, alienus, sensus_--and lapis, an ender pearl-_--_a crystal eye-__--

-_and one more thing-__---_

“What?  Is is something hard to get?”

__-_something of you-__

\--_-a bone needle-__--_-with your blood_-__---_-

“I can do that.  Surely it doesn’t need much blood.”

__--_-only a few drops-__-_

“Alright.” Lying partially rewrapped the mirror and began looking around their chests for the necessary materials.  The lapis and the pearl were easy.  The essences too, though they had to make a bit more Sensus.  The eye took some crafting, but Lying had made them enough times that it was no trouble.  The bone needle, however...

"Hey Kegare, How do I make the needle?"

-_-__file down a shard of bone-_---flint should_--_do the trick_--

"Thanks!"  Lying grabbed a piece of flint and returned to the crafting table.

\--_always glad to help-_--__-he_-he-__-

Lying finished the needle, returned the Sensus jar to its place among the others and headed back along the path. They placed the mirror and the reagents in their places, only pausing their excited humming when they pricked their finger.   They began the infusion, watching carefully for flux problems.  Surprisingly, there were few, only a few sparks that did no damage. And a dripping noise, but that was probably nothing to worry about.  It stopped when the infusion did.

When the sparks had dissipated, Lying grabbed the mirror off the pedestal and, after a moment of hesitation, looked into it.  Their reflection looked back, as if in a normal mirror.  They had expected something... more.  Maybe it wasn't working.  They frowned and began to lower it.  Maybe Kegare would know what was wrong.  

Suddenly, the face in the mirror changed.  It became thinner, paler.  The hair broke free of its ponytail and grew long bangs trailing down one side. Streaks of blood appeared near its tips.  The eyes became sunken slits; the one partially hidden by the bangs turned turquoise and glassy.  More blood began to rim the eyes, drip down the cheeks.  The altered reflection grinned like a demon, mouth far too wide, teeth far too sharp.

As the priest's eyes met those in the mirror, the reflection seemed to see him.  Its expression changed to one of shock.  

The mirror fell from Lying's hands and clattered on the ground.

 

 


	3. The Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second Lying.

_Now, I think we should move on.  Do you want to follow up with what the Priest saw?_

_I thought so.  See the well-monster._

In a damp underground room, Lying, the Witch of the Woods, lifted a delicate paintbrush to put the finishing touches on a small cloth doll.  A thin curved brow above each button eye.  A precise angle for a nose.  A long sweep for a wide smile.  

They placed the brush back on the desk.   A lock of their hair rose of its own accord and sharpened at the tip.  It brushed a drip of blood from their cheek and added a hint of red to the doll's painted lips.  The lock of hair pulled back as Lying looked thoughtfully at the doll, then retrieved a drop of blood from the other cheek and smeared lines beneath and above the button eyes.  

Satisfied with the resemblance, Lying clothed the doll in a blue felt cloak and placed a pointed black hat like their own on its head.  They turned to the far wall, which was nearly covered with shelves holding similar dolls, and placed the new one in the first available space.  They stuck out their tongue mockingly at a yellow crystal hanging on the wall, grabbed a strange green staff from a basket by the door, and swept out of the room.

Lying checked their clipboard, marked something off, and nodded thoughtfully.  They pointed their staff downwards, focused for a moment, then vanished with an electronic swishing sound.  This brought them to the lowest floor of their strange home.   There, echoing drips mingled with the low moans of strange creatures imprisoned in the storage rooms.   It was one of these the witch was there to see.  They stalked along the hallway, carefully avoiding the puddles, until they came to the cage containing the mutant hybrid Lying was calling a werewolf.  

 

“Why hello there, Boris.  Have you been keeping well?” asked Lying.   The werewolf, Boris, responded with a low growl.  

“I hope you have, because it’s time for another experiment on your regeneration.  Do behave better this time,”  continued the witch, “It took quite a while to clean up last time.”

Boris continued growling, sniffed the air, and backed into one corner of the cell.  Lying took a shimmering net from an inside pocket if their cloak, and opened the door.  As they approached Boris, the werewolf’s growl peaked into a bark.   He lashed out with one paw, wounding Lying’s arm.  

“Naughty boy.  No clawing!” Lying scolded without flinching.  The wound was already closing, almost like cloth re-stitching itself.   They threw the net at the wolf, which vanished, as well as the net’s shimmer.  

Lying picked up the apparently empty net and walked further along the hall to a larger room with a pit in the floor.  A flourish of the net, and the werewolf appeared in the middle of the pit.  While Boris was still sniffing around, Lying retrieved a few tools from a table in the corner.  Time for experimentation.

 

Needless to say, Boris did not behave.  

 

When the experiment was over, the room cleaned up, and Boris back in his cage, Lying used their staff to teleport up to the surface to throw out the wolf fur they had swept up.  They tossed it into the nearby marsh, and were about to return underground, when the floating fur formed a circle in the water, which began to shimmer inside the circle.  

Lying knelt to look more closely, grinning in excitement, and the shimmer cleared to show a face like their own, but neater, cleaner, and suntanned.  Another instance of themself!  Lying gasped in surprise.  The other Lying wore a hood shaped like a wolf skull and a chainmail vest over a starry-looking black shirt.  As the image became clearer, the other Lying made a face of disgust and jerked away.  

  
Instantly, the circle of fur broke and the image vanished. 


	4. The Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lying of Baedmon has a strange experience. 
> 
>  
> 
> (I really hope I didn't mess up the characterization)

 

_Now, I suppose we should keep following the chain._

_See the mercenary knight._

 

Lying, exiled knight of Baedmon, looked up at the moon with annoyance.  That luminous tyrant had stolen many nights of sleep from him and his squire since their arrival on the new continent.  And that wasn't even counting the craziness of Blood Moons!  Lying would have shaken his fist at it if it weren’t for the inconvenient fact that said fist was currently a paw.  

Yes, well, Lying could have changed back, but he and Squire Fuzz were in the middle of scouting the now doubly-ruined castle where they had encountered that vampire.  The wolf forms, awkward as they were, had advantages in speed and concealment.  Speaking of the squire, where was that pup?

Lying didn’t have to wonder for long.  Squire Fuzz was already bounding out of the crater,  barking their news.  “I smell vampire, but it’s old.  I don’t think that fancy-dress guy has been here for a while.”  Fuzz stopped in front of Lying, his ears pricked high.  “I bet he snuck back and grabbed anything salvageable then left for good.”

Lying nodded.  “Maybe if we’d been keeping watch we could have seen him at it.  It might have been useful to find out where he moved to.”  Especially if those two ladies wanted to hire them again.  Neither of them had seemed to like vampires much, so it was a definite possibility.  “As mercenaries, any knowledge of the denizens of this land is an advantage,” he concluded.  After a pause, he added, “Did any chests survive?  Was anything left in them?”

Fuzz looked back at the crater, then flicked a bit of debris off his side with a hind paw.  “A few chests survived the main blast, but they just had junk in them. I found the entrance to the mine, though.  Might be a few in there.”

Lying swished his tail.  “Let’s go investigate.  Lead the way, Fuzz.”

While there were a few things left in the mine, it was nothing particularly interesting.   Mostly just cobblestone and rotten flesh.  Lying found a few torches and a damp book, but decided they weren't worth the trouble of carrying back.  When the two had concluded the castle was unoccupied and would likely remain so, they decided to check out the village as well.  

 

“This wall wasn't here last time.  I’m sure of it,”  Lying growled, facing solid brick where he distinctly remembered the jagged hole he and the clients had used to enter the ruin.  Maybe the wall had been repaired, but surely it wouldn't look so… seamless.  There was moss in the mortar for heaven’s sake!

“Our trail leads here.  That purple-haired one has a weird smell.  More like flowers than like a person.”  Fuzz raised their nose.  “The wall has that same smell all over it.”

“She must have fixed it, then,” Lying answered sceptically. “Well, I guess that’s a good sign.  Lets look for the proper entrance.”

Fuzz sniffed the wall again, then sneezed.  “Hyppp!  Hopefully that will still be there.”  

 

Luckily, when the two wolves rounded the corner, it was. The gates were locked, but Lying and Fuzz were able to leap it fairly easily.  What they found within, though, was far from what they had expected.  

Exotic, luminous flowers and mushrooms grew everywhere.  Patches of ground had become overgrown with otherworldly turquoise grass that rustled musically.  The houses had been rebuilt with walls of an unidentifiable green material and roofs of pale blue wood that reflected the moonlight.  Every door had a glowing sun-shaped charm above it.  The farms had been sown with garlic and another plant that smelled even fouler.  The very air seemed to sparkle with strange magic.  Shimmering, half-glimpsed forms flitted across the edges of their visions.  A darting breeze, unlike the low, steady wind outside, made spirals in their fur and teased them with fragments of scents unlike any they had smelled before.  

The two of them wandered in shock for several minutes, staring at the scene around them.  Finally, Lying said flatly, “This is… new.”

Fuzz, still staring, replied “Yeah.”

“Could those two, the ones who hired us, could they have done this?  This looks… not like anything earthly.”  Lying’s suspicious side was kicking in.  

“Well, it wasn’t the vampire.  Not his style at all.”  Fuzz chuckled nervously.  “He’d have done it all in black and red, and put bats instead of suns.”

Lying saw a white stone basin on the ground.  He approached it and saw it was full of a shifting liquid, like glowing water, but one sniff told him it was something else entirely.  Sparks rose gently, dissipating into an almost overpowering flower-like smell.  The exact same smell that had covered the purple-haired client, Arcturus was her name.  

Slightly drunk on the concentrated mana vapors he had inhaled, Lying returned to normal form.  He leaned over the pool, meeting the eyes of his reflection.  The reflection blinked, and when its eyes opened, they were merely empty sockets.  Water began to drip from the reflections hair and clothes.  The starry pattern seemed to wash out, leaving a stained, formerly-white tunic.

As Lying sat transfixed, Fuzz un-shifted as well, and came over to look as well.  

Lying watched as the empty eyes filled with blood, dripping down the face.  The mouth opened, and a mixture of blood and even more water spilled from it.  

 

Lying could take no more.  He jerked himself away and shook his head violently.

“What’s wrong?”  Fuzz asked, not having seen the changing reflection.  

Lying did not answer.  “Let’s get out of here.  We won’t find any clues as to where that vampire went, and to be frank, this place is creepy.”  

He turned back into a wolf, and, as Fuzz followed suit, started home.  He did not say a word the entire return trip.  

 


	5. The Many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we think you can guess  
> what this one  
> is about

_Now, the broken mirrors.   Don't bother trying to look in all of them; they all show that same thing._

_Darkness._

_Faint reflections of yellow light._

_Sometimes a blurry silhouette with empty red eyes._

_Only rarely more._

_Yes, you’ve noticed that most of the cracks radiate out from a few mirrors._

_Those were the sources of the damage._

_Those, for the most part, were the Lyings that were cast into their wells._

_Most - all but one in fact - are cracked themselves.  They… drew on… their neighbors first,_

_but then they reached outwards._

_The broken mirrors show what is left of the Lyings that previously inhabited those worlds._

_Not dead, but stripped of their bodies._

_Not alive, but with sparks of vitality remaining._

_Hear the Vengeful Many._

  
  
  


     individually   we are                weak      broken    lost                   dead        

together we           are            strong               more that a whole        

    we will       have revenge                   bring down               the last              the witch   

                                          the dolls the monster the          traitors

        many wells many witches       some pulled      took our life    (s)     broke us

                      but the witches             broke       each other        all of us        one left     monster

some of us were           like the monster       witches         broke    took     stole

         but many were        innocent                               broken          taken        stolen

                            many    some       innocent         some not    

                                                              all work          together         now

            breakers takers thieves      apologised         are us now     forgiven         thank you

some left in the dark         they deserve the dark                                           maybe   

                          few          not us           not sorry not forgiven

       gone          where?        don't know        weak alone                          dolls they are the dolls  

                                    some of the dolls     they walk          we see them

     we see      through the yellow prism          the witch taunts us    the dolls taunt us    

                 we are        still trapped      in the prism   prison      but                 we can reach   out

                         our will    (s)    our mind    (s)        our voice   (s)          to        another world       

                      a priest        a fox          pure                                        a hope

we help the priest       strong      stronger than they know      they will     defeat the witch

                                                                                   avenge us    help us    free us         maybe

     the first       steps          are done                              the mirror is       made

                  the priest        fox          has seen       the witch              they will        have questions

         we can        answer                             we will           tell them       what they should     know

 if they die                 they might join us                we can        try another     try again

                               try    who        the nether-dweller        the sea survivor not

      
 

no      the hunter           

            we       have failed to      make contact         we found him          tried to speak          

                did he hear            why did he       leave                 he was banished    for hearing us

        but he is         promising           he has      skill against       monsters            not enough

             we will        find a      way in             help him       train him              second chance

 

      we are                    broken reflections       ghost                  specter        

                              fusion of             shards              many                in one             plural singular

              what      fuck grammar              spirit                      shadow              wraith        

                        the witch’s nightmare                technically we are many in 3.772              nerd

                                      kyofushin (fear)                              kegare (corruption)

                                                     the monster’s monster

                       we're all nerds                 not               lier         yep      ha

                                             serious!                           

     we are   Lying                                                           (s)

 

 


End file.
